In the next town over from mine, there's a little restaurant on Main Street. My friends and I have dined there several times. The restaurant is Rabalais', a Southern Cajun Bistro, and they specialize in New Orleans cuisine. What do you think is also on the menu? Why beignets, of course. Smothered in powdered sugar. We always finish our meal with a plate of beignets to share.

So, it was great fun this month to have Elle (Feeding My Enthusiasms) challenge the Babes to bake their very own beignets. Using a recipe from Martha Stewart, we had the choice of making plain beignets and/or ones stuffed with something delicious. Given the state of my month, I decided to forego stuffing, but it's certainly something to do in the future.

What I did do was divide the dough in half and cook each half on successive days, and what I discovered was the dough that spent the night in the fridge had better puffiness in the fryer.

So, here's my hardware, filled with peanut oil:

(This is a vintage Corning Ware electric skillet, that I swiped from my mother. It's historic because I used it when I was in high school to make doughnuts once when my mother was away for the day. I was a sneaky kid. I knew she would never give me permission for fear of burning down the house. But I showed her. When she returned, there was a plate of doughnuts, a spotless kitchen, and her angelic kid.)

And here are the beignets:

No need to fear deep frying. Patience is the key.

And chopsticks. I always use my 'cooking' chopsticks for frying. They are longer than usual and the perfect utensil in combination with a slotted spoon.

During these hot summer days, deep frying is a great alternative to firing up the oven.

So, head over to Elle's kitchen to find the recipe and see how creative the other Babes were. Share your best beignets with her by August 29 to be included in the roundup.